Remembering Native Americans on Independence Day

Like Memorial Day, Independence Day has become a time for gathering with friends and family, but let us also remember its true purpose.

 In a 1776, John Adams penned in a letter to his wife that Independence Day “ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance.” Its purpose is to memorialize the Declaration of Independence and the forming of a federal union by the first 13 independent states.

For the United States, the philosophy of independence is about living out liberty and national allegiance. The American Revolution waged by the original 13 colonies was a fight for freedom, a fight to be self-governing and sovereign states free of tyranny and oppression from the British Crown, which prohibited basic rights of all Englishmen.

Ultimately, the Paris Peace Treaty of 1783 declared the 13 colonies to be “free sovereign and independent states.” This treaty established that the fundamental right of sovereignty resided within each former colony. This was a hard won acknowledgment and, understanding it, one would think the US would have extended it to Native American tribes. Yet, the recognition of tribes as self-governing and sovereign nations independent of the federal union was also hard won.

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